Tuesday, October 6, 2009

My amazing BlogHer Food friends

Many of you reading this will already have heard about BlogHer Food '09, the food blogging nirvana that took place a few weekends ago in San Francisco. I'm a little slow with my report, and originally I thought it was because of all the other things I had on my plate when I returned - oh, you know, husband kids work friends laundry dishes cooking writing gardening doctor meetings, that stuff.

But the truth is that it's taken me all this time to figure out why that weekend affected me so much. I can't remember the last time I was in the company of so many people who loved what they were doing, spoke my language, and wanted as badly as I did to make connections. Everyone I met had something to say and was eager to listen. I talked with people whose writing has affected me deeply, and I told them so. I met people in the flesh with whom I'd been talking online for months. The whole thing felt so right. And it made me even more sure that all the time I'm spending writing and cooking and writing about cooking is right for me.

The photo, by the way, is of the croissant I had the day after the conference, when Caron of San Diego Foodstuff, Jackie of Foodie Reflections, and I went up to Tartine, a lovely bakery in the "gourmet ghetto" - not knowing San Francisco well, I can't really tell you where that is, but the Mission was involved in some way, I think. This is the only picture I took the whole weekend. Because I was so busy, the rest of the time, talking and listening and being in the moment. This in itself is a huge accomplishment for me - spending time in the moment - so I'm not flogging myself for not taking more pictures. Lots of other people took lots of beautiful pictures. I can look at theirs.

Today, I'm going to pay tribute to some of the wonderful writers I met at BlogHer Food by giving you the links to their blogs. I bet you'll be just as inspired as I was. And to all those listed below, and the many others I met but was not wise enough to ask for a card (how else would I be able to remember everyone?), thank you. Now go read these wonderful blogs.

Foodie Reflections - Jackie's a professionally trained chef living and cooking in Chicago.

The Mushroom Channel - all things fungal from Jessi, who does PR for the growers' association, hosted a wonderful dinner the night before the conference, and made a phenomenal mushroom soup to lift our spirits after the somewhat sad lunch.

Beach Eats - I love the Diva on a Diet's take on food: We all have to watch our waistlines sometime, but that shouldn't keep us from a good piece of cake.

Heather in SF - When I met Heather, I really felt like I'd come across a kindred spirit.

Mad About Martha - Maris channels the spirit, but fortunately not the personality, of you-know-who

Foodzie - okay, not a blog, but if you haven't visited this online marketplace for artisanal and handcrafted food products, go RIGHT NOW - Emily brought amazing goodies to the after-party.

What's Gaby Cooking - Gaby, a personal chef, is part of the Los Angeles group that formed spontaneously and is planning to meet for lunch very, very soon.

Savour Fare - The best story of my weekend: Turns out that Kate, with whom I'd been Twitter friends for a while, and I work in the same building. Can you say "lunch date?"

Hey What's for Dinner Mom? - Laura lives in Alaska. Not in a city. With kids, ducks, turkeys, and the occasional bear. 'Nuff said.

Whining 'N Dining - Liz is another L.A. gal, and like me, she often blogs about stuff her kids like to eat.

Black Girl Chef's Whites - Cheryl also writes for Examiner, so we'd been in touch before, but we had to go all the way to the 415 to meet in person.

Cook Local - Patricia and her husband write this blog together, and with very few exceptions, everything they eat and cook and write about is local to Washington State. I know the locavore thing is big, but I hadn't really met any locavores in person. I learned a ton from her, and I still owe her pictures of the pepper tree in my backyard, because according to Patricia, it's very likely producing edible peppercorns.

Erika, I had a great time at Tartine with you and Caron - and that extra croissant totally got me through the flight home! I can't wait til my visit in February when I can see real lemons growing on actual trees.

Erika, it was so lovely to meet you, and even better that we can keep the conversations going here! I so much enjoyed hanging out with you, although our time for chatting was so brief in retrospect. You really captured my feelings of the conference and the time around it. Kindred spirits indeed! (((hug)))